Halo
by Cake1
Summary: Chad's world comes crashing down around him when something tragic happens in his home life. Five months later, the nightmares return and just as he's moving past it, it comes screaming back. Chyan - twoshot.
1. Part One

Hey! This was gonna be a oneshot but when I reached the end of this it felt like a natural ending for now. And It's 3.40am and I wanna sleep. Okay, I tried to do research for this fic but it's difficult so hopefully it all sounds okay. I've not really been to hospital many times, lol. Please let me know what you think, and hopefully the rest of this will be written and uploaded within.. I'll say a few days. Enjoy.x

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He work up with a start - the room suddenly felt deafeningly silent and he rubbed his eyes. Throwing his head back down on his pillow, he sighed and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Just when he'd thought that his nightmares had stopped - This was now the third night in a row that he'd been haunted once again by the events of one night, 5 months ago.

Chad sat up, put his feet onto the floor and buried his face into his hands. He felt a cool September breeze hit his bare legs through the warmth of the room - it was refreshing, yet haunting - it was a similar night to that horrific night. Maybe that was why his mind had again started transporting him back to that night - a night that started off just like any other. He glanced back to his empty bed, before burying his face once again in his hands.

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"What are you getting up to today?"

"I was thinking of doing nothing, coupled with laying still, and maybe a bit of staring at the TV."

"Busy then?" Chad laughed.

"Yeah. I've got an audition on Friday, I'll go to dance class tomorrow, but for today, I'm gonna be here all night." Ryan grinned up to Chad, who was standing over him. "I'll wait up for you."

"Okay. I won't be home too late." Chad leaned down and kissed Ryan on the head. "See you later."

Chad left his and Ryan's house, and started the short walk to Troy's apartment, which he shared with Gabriella. It was a warm, April afternoon, with a cool breeze blowing Chad's hair from his face. Within six or seven minutes, he reached Troy's, and the two of them made their way to the game they'd been waiting weeks for. A good few hours later, Troy drove Chad home.

"So… how's things with you and Ryan?" Troy asked on the way back, trying to not sound awkward.

"Aw, dude, things are great." Chad said, with a grin. "Thanks for asking." He added with a slight laugh. "How are things with Gabi?"

"They're okay."

Troy was never one to share his feelings - particularly not with Chad. Chad smiled to himself and leaned his head against the back of his seat. He closed his eyes momentarily, opening them when he felt the car turn into his street.

"What's that?" Troy asked casually, pointing into the sky.

Chad looked out of the window, up at where Troy was pointing. His heart stopped - at first, there was a small amount of grey-ish smoke, being carried by the wind, but as it grew thicker and darker, and the car got closer and closer, Chad started to panic.

"Something's on fire." He mumbled, frowning and frantically yanking on his seatbelt to get it off of him. As Troy slowed the car down, Chad opened the door and jumped out, running towards his house. As he approached, his worst fears were confirmed - the now thick, billowing smoke was coming from his home.

"Chad!" Troy called out, hurriedly stopping the car and getting out himself. "Wait!"

"I can't…" Chad shouted, fiddling in his pockets for his keys. "Ryan's in there!"

"Are you sure?!" Troy asked, running to Chad's side. "Move out the way."

Troy pushed a frantic Chad out of the doorway, and started to try and kick down the door. Chad, panicked, tried to smash a window, when Troy finally got the door open. Chad pushed past, running into the living room and disappearing among the smoke.

"Be careful!" Troy shouted. "I'll check upstairs!"

The heat was unbearable - the smoke smothering. Troy ran up the stairs, and then dropped to the floor and started to crawl through the house, underneath the smoke.

Chad charged through the smoke, shouting out for Ryan. As he approached the kitchen, the heat grew in intensity, and he could now clearly see flames.

"Ryan!" Chad called out once again, fighting his way through flames into the kitchen. He fell to his knees, coughing.

"Ryan!" Troy was upstairs, calling out. He crawled his way into Chad and Ryan's bedroom, where he saw a figure laying still on the bed.

The next thing Chad knew, he was being dragged onto grass by a fireman. As he came around, and a paramedic approached him, he felt a pang of panic.

"Where is he?!" Chad cried out. "Where's Ryan? He's still in there!"

"Buddy, there's nothing you can do. The firemen are doing all they can." The paramedic told Chad, pulling him back down on the grass from where he was frantically trying to scramble to his feet.

"No!" Chad screamed, starting to cry as he realised his body had no energy left.

He sobbed, as he watched his home burn. As the paramedic soothed some burns, he looked up at Troy's car.

"Troy's in there too!" He shouted out, to no one in particular, once the realisation hit him. "Please!" Chad turned to the paramedic. "Troy's in there too!"

Just then, he turned his head to look once again at his house - and saw Troy drag himself out - with Ryan on his back.

"Ryan!" Chad screamed, suddenly finding the energy, getting up and running over to where Troy and Ryan were slumped on the grass.

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Chad was sat in a hospital bed, staring into space. There was a window in front of him, he glanced at himself. His hair was singed, his face was blackened, with clean streaks running down where his tears had fell.

"How are you feeling, Mr Danforth?" A doctor asked him.

"I just want to see Ryan."

"Mr Danforth, Ryan is being examined, and you really need to be too. He's in safe hands. Now please - how are you feeling?"

"I feel nauseous. And like I wanna cough."

"I think you'll be coughing a lot over the next few weeks. Are you breathing easily?"

"I guess so." Chad replied, staring into space once again.

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Troy had been checked over - he was relatively unscathed, he had inhaled hardly any smoke and he was given the all clear before Ryan and Chad had even finished being checked over.

Troy stopped by to see Ryan first - so at least he'd have an update once he visited Chad.

He looked through the window - and his heart sank. Ryan was hooked up to a ventilator, with some worried looking doctors staring down at him.

He skulked off towards where Chad was being checked out. When he approached, Chad leapt up and ran over to him.

"Troy!" Chad wrapped his arms around Troy, pulling him close. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Not a scratch." He smiled back sadly. "I, uh… just walked by Ryan."

"What?" Chad let go of Troy and gripped his arms. "How is he?"

"He's in good hands." Troy frowned. "He doesn't look too good though, man. He's on a ventilator."

Chad loosened his grip on Troy, and walked back over to the bed he was sat on.

"What am I gonna do?" Chad shook his head, sitting back down on the bed. "If he doesn't pull through…"

"Hey…" Troy soothed, sitting down next to Chad, putting his arm around him. "Don't you dare think like that."

Two hours later, and Chad had managed to fall asleep. Troy stayed with him, sat next to his bed. He awoke Chad when a doctor came to speak to him.

"Mr Danforth." The doctor smiled slightly. "Mr Evans is serious but stable. He has been admitted into intensive care." Chad looked alarmed. "Don't worry. He's in good hands." Chad rolled his eyes. "Smoke inhalation is rarely fatal."

Chad wasn't comforted by the mention of fatality, but he did feel better.

"You may visit him if you wish."

Chad and Troy made their way to the Intensive Care Unit, and as soon as Chad lay his eyes on Ryan, he burst into tears.

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It was five in the morning, and Chad was lay on Troy's sofa, trying in vain to get some sleep. His eyes were dry, scratchy, red. He couldn't sleep - how could he, when Ryan's fate was hanging in the balance? He yawned, climbed out of bed, and got dressed. He headed towards the hospital - he walked the 30 minute walk rather than driving - it was much safer when he was this tired, and the last thing they needed right now was another tragedy.

When he got to the hospital, he convinced the nurses to let him in to see Ryan. Ryan was capable of being conscious, but, since it was the middle of the night and he was on a lot of drugs, Ryan was none the wiser to Chad's presence. Still, Chad pulled a chair close to Ryan's bed, took his hand, and soon fell asleep next to him.


	2. Part Two

I've corrected a bit of an error in the first chapter - I said that Chad was sleeping in his own bed - his house was just ripped through with fire and smoke, there's obviously no way that would be possible! So that's fixed now. I feel this chapter is a bit boring, but, hopefully you'll like it. Thanks for reading.

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Chad was awoken by a nurse the next morning. The first thing that hit him was the pain in his neck from sleeping at a strange angle. He looked up at Ryan, who was still lay the same way as when he'd gone to sleep. Chad's face was indented with creases from sleeping with Ryan's hand pressed against his face - his fingers felt swollen and tingly from sleeping on top of them - frankly, he felt a mess.

However, he knew he felt better than he would have, had he stayed at Troy's. At least he had some sleep. He stood up, stretched, and adjusted his clothes slightly. He moved his chair to face Ryan, the back facing the rest of the ward. He sat back down, taking Ryan's hand in his own once again. He smiled to himself, stroking Ryan's hand gently with his thumb.

Just then, eyelids flickered. Chad's eyes widened, as Ryan's opened.

"Ryan!" Chad sported a massive grin. "Hey, you."

"Hey." Ryan responded coolly, before coughing. "Yeugh." He frowned. "Uh… where am I?"

"In the hospital, buddy." Chad smiled calmly.

"Don't buddy me." Ryan responded calmly but sternly, and weakly tried to sit up. "Why am I here? Did you beat me because I overcooked the chicken last week?"

"Funny." Chad grinned, breathing a sigh of relief that Ryan was his old self, even after all this. "I dunno, maybe you overcooked another chicken, there was a fire at home. Troy got you out."

Ryan grinned, opened his mouth to say something, Chad knew it was going to be some kind of sarcasm or joke by his expression, however he was stopped by a doctor who had approached.

"Sorry to disturb." the doctor cleared his throat. "Mr Evans, good to see you awake. I'm Dr. Newman. You're doing great, you're making great progress. We'll see about getting you out of intensive care, shall we?"

"I'm in intensive care?!" Ryan widened his eyes. "Holy crap."

"Ryan!" Chad whispered. "Shush."

"Not for long." Dr Newman smiled. "I'll be back in ten minutes, I need to do a few more tests. I'll leave you two alone for now."

"Thanks, Doc." Chad grinned. "See, you practically recovered before you even knew you were in hospital! How awesome is that?"

"Yeah. How are you? Did you get caught in the fire? Look at your hair!"

"No. I went in to try and find you. Troy found you though, remember I told you that?"

"Oh, yeah. How is he?"

"He's okay, coughing a bit too. Me too, I got a couple of burns too. Superficial is all." Chad shrugged. He looked at Ryan, whose eyelids were half closed. "Are you sleepy?"

"A bit." Ryan closed his eyes.

"I'll come back later, okay?"

Ryan was already asleep.

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Chad went to his house, where a fireman explained the current situation.

"You're not gonna be able to live here for a good few weeks, that's for sure. There's so much smoke damage, not to mention the kitchen, where the fire started."

"Do you know the cause of it?"

"We think something to do with the oven. Maybe an electrical fault."

As down as Chad was about the whole situation, he couldn't help but conjure up an image of a chicken on fire in his head.

"We'll have the building assessed for damages, and let you know the repairs you will need to make in order to have a safe home."

"Thank you."

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That night, Chad returned to the hospital. He enquired before making his way to Ryan, just in case they had moved him out of Intensive Care. He was puzzled to discover Ryan was still in intensive care, but not in the same bed.

When he arrived at Ryan's bedside, he was asleep still. Soon enough, a doctor came along, and explained Ryan's bed move to Chad.

"We removed him from the intensive care unit a number of hours ago." the doctor explained. "But he struggled to breathe without help, so we thought it best to bring him back here. That way, we can monitor him, and try and strengthen his lungs to be able to work without assistance."

Chad stayed that night, too. He didn't sleep so easily this time - he woke up in a cold sweat, after a nightmare that mimicked the terrifying real life event identically. He stroked Ryan's arm, and sighed. All he wanted, more than anything, was to be at home, in his bed, with Ryan next to him, breathing soundly and all on his own. Not normally such a big thing to ask for.

The next morning, Chad was awoken from a sluggish, shallow sleep, by a strange beeping. He looked up to see a doctor and two nurses standing over Ryan.

It was then he was asked to step outside, and then that his whole world came crashing down, once again.

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"Pulmonary edema." Dr. Newman told Chad, who stared back, blankly. "It is essentially a fluid accumulation on the lungs. In this case, it was caused by the inhalation of toxic gases. Symptoms typically appear a few days after the smoke inhalation takes place. There shouldn't be any reason to worry."

Of course, Chad couldn't help but do nothing but worry. It would be just his luck. Just his luck, that just as he gets everything he had ever wanted, it all gets taken away. The thought of losing Ryan was unbearable - a thought that he'd managed to keep out of his brain, until now. As he watched Ryan's condition deteriorate, and watched doctors frantically rushing back and forth, he prepared himself for the worst - he clenched his eyes shut, not willing to watch what was happening before his very eyes.

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He wasn't actively trying to remember such a horrific time. It just came to him. He couldn't get back to sleep - images were flashing by in his mind - the image of Troy pulling Ryan out of the house, the image of Ryan going back to sleep, the image of Ryan's deterioration, blurring as Chad's eyes filled up with tears.

Five months on, and even though the house was back to its old self, Chad had never been the same. How could he be? He threw himself down on the bed and glanced to the empty side. The love he felt for Ryan was overwhelming. He yearned to hold him, feel his warmth, smell his neck. He wanted Ryan to tell him everything would be okay, and to stop worrying.

Chad jumped when he heard a noise in the next room. The bedroom door opened.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No. I had another nightmare."

"Aw, no! You haven't had one for ages."

Chad smiled, as Ryan entered the room, and climbed into his side of the bed. He wrapped his arms around Chad, and held him close.

"And I woke up, and you were gone…"

"I'll always be here for you, buddy." Ryan smiled against Chad's neck. "It's gonna be okay."

"Thanks. I love you."

"Love you too. Let's get some sleep, huh?"

The two of them climbed under the covers and cuddled together. Chad closed his eyes, and tried to remember happier memories.

He remembered the day Ryan was finally able to breathe all on his own. He remembered the day that Ryan got out of the hospital, he remembered how it felt to reach over, and instead of feeling an empty bed - like he had become accustomed to - he felt Ryan. He remembered the day that Ryan was told that there would be no lasting affects on his body, and that the coughing would eventually stop. He remembered the day that Ryan managed to complete an entire dance routine without having to stop to catch his breath.

Chad wondered how things would have been if Ryan hadn't recovered - he would surely have gone insane. He had changed into a worrier, constantly paranoid and had the occasional panic attack. But he had also changed into someone who never took anything or anyone for granted, and was starting to try and live each day to its fullest. He cherished each moment with Ryan, and took every minute with him as the gift he was surely granted from God.


End file.
